Super Mario RPG

By being exactly the same as the original, it's inevitable that the new Super Mario RPG is a good game, but it doesn't bring any new novelties that justifies its full price. The revised graphics are the only big draw. With very few changes in combat and narrative deviations that barely impact the story that we already knew, the game is more a remaster than a proper remake. The new Super Mario RPG is a good entry for newcomers that did not play the original.

Super Mario RPG provides an excellent way to introduce a remarkable classic to a modern audience. Unfortunately, it doesn't go the extra mile and, in its effort to be as 1:1 as possible, occasionally feels a bit dated. However, turn-based battles with rhythmic elements remain entertaining, and the new graphical touches suit the most famous plumber and his companions well.

Super Mario RPG is an excellent remake. The game is atypical and very old school, but has enough quality for us to give it our full attention, especially since the improvements are numerous. Graphic redesign, alignment of the artistic direction of the characters, adjustment of the quality of life... Super Mario RPG will be the perfect gateway for players who have never played an RPG in their life. Accessible and fun, it nevertheless remains interesting thanks to its combo system in combat and its small strategic dimension. Without being a real must-have, Super Mario RPG remains a very good vintage which will certainly have a place in the game library of lovers of the franchise and perhaps even in that of the curious.

I hesitate to call Super Mario RPG an improvement over the 1996 version. It’s still the same whimsical adventure that I’ll never tire of playing, but it loses a bit of what made the original special amid a stack of tweaks that go both too far and not far enough. I imagine that a lot of players will stick to the original on future replays, opting to soak in its dense pixels and dark landscapes.

Nintendo’s newly released remake is more of a 1:1 remaster than a true remake. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this new version of Super Mario RPG, but some of the game’s design flaws and problems are more apparent. While the brilliance of the original still shines through, I continuously found myself wishing more was changed and reimagined.

An excellent remake of a historically important game, that often gets forgotten. The price is off-putting but beyond that this is a breezy and charming adventure that’s perfect for RPG neophytes.